Published on : Tuesday, September 30, 2014
In the wake of Friday’s fire at a Federal Aviation Administration facility in Illinois headaches continue to troulefor air travelers headed through Chicago.
About 480 flights had been canceled Monday at Chicago O’Hare, the busiest airport in the world, as of 12:45 p.m. ET,. That represents about 15% of the Monday schedule at O’Hare.
This marks a fourth consecutive day that flights have been disrupted following the fire, with more than 3,750 flights canceled since Friday, according to FlightAware’s count.
The number of daily cancellations in Chicago has dropped since Friday, when more than 1,750 flights were canceled at the city’s busy O’Hare and Midway airports. The number of canceled flights at those airports declined on Saturday and Sunday, though the tallies were still significant with more than 760 on both days. Delays also were widespread, notably at O’Hare.
Friday’s problems touched airports from coast to coast, though FlightAware CEO Daniel Baker says the ripple effect has lessened.
“The domino effect of cancellations on Friday was significant, but less so over the weekend and today,” Baker says in a Monday morning e-mail to Today in the Sky. He says that’s because “airlines were more prepared for problems and preemptively cancelled Chicago operations to reduce the impact on the rest of their operations.”
He noted that more than 90% of the nationwide cancellations Monday are on flights to or from Chicago.Including Monday morning’s cancellations, more than 3,745 flights have been canceled since Friday at Chicago’s O’Hare and Midway airports.
It was unclear how much longer the fire-related delays will continue to affect Chicago flights.
The FAA says it is working quickly to install replacement equipment at the damaged facility and that air traffic controllers from the site have been shifted to other FAA offices in the region.
“The FAA is saying it will be at least two weeks before the facility is back online, Baker says. “And although they said they’re working to bring capacity back to normal levels, they haven’t given a date for when they expect that will be, so it is reasonable to expect continued cancellations.”
However, by Monday morning, most of Chicago’s delays had narrowed to O’Hare airport, where about 15% of the day’s flights had been canceled as of 10:50 a.m. ET. O’Hare is a major hub for both American and United flights. Few cancellations were being reported at Midway Airport, where Southwest is by far the busiest carrier
Tags: Chicago airport
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